


The Way of Fate

by lollilike



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Baby Yoda is a toddler and is called Grogu, Corin Plays Basketball, Corin is an excellent babysitter, Corin is oblivious as always, M/M, No helmet, Protective Din Djarin, Real Life, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29737053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lollilike/pseuds/lollilike
Summary: The car comes much too fast, and the man sees it way too late. He is unable to escape, the ground is too slippery from the number of cars driving through and transforming the street into a watery-icy trap.Corin wonders why the man doesn’t move; the threat is obvious! He finally does, but he slips and is on the verge of falling right where he stands, the child still in his arm.Corin acts out of pure instinct. He doesn’t want to see the man and his child connect with the bonnet, doesn’t want to hear the loud noise that is about to happen, doesn’t want to hear the child scream. He couldn’t bear the noise and dread spreads in his chest.He does the only thing he can, he jumps in front of the car.Life is not always kind to our boys. Not even when it takes place in our reality. It’s good luck they have each other.This is how Din, the child and Corin could have met in our reality. A modern AU.
Relationships: Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret) & Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret) & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret)/Din Djarin
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Family and Home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21758992) by [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina). 
  * Inspired by [Hidden and Revealed](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23599798) by [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina). 



> Hello! This is just me wanting to relive some of my favourite moments from the fantastic stories of LadyIrina. I love what she does with the characters and I absolutely adore her and her whole universe. All credits belong to her! I just wanted more, so I couldn’t stop myself from writing this. Please, if you find any mistakes, feel free to correct me! And be warned if you haven’t already read The Mandalorian, his son and the Storm Trooper by LadyIrina, this may contain spoilers! Have fun!

It is a cold winter day and snow covers the street. It covers everything in a thick coat of fluffy coldness. The street, the trees, the streetlights, it’s all enclosed in its icy breath. Everyone who has no choice but to face the unkind weather sets one careful step after another to avoid slipping on ice and snow. Everything is white, the air is fresh and stings in Corin’s throat while breathing. He doesn’t mind. The cold makes him feel alive, more than anything else in his life does. He praises the good luck for this weather. The snow, the cold, they are old friends of him, friends he always misses fiercely when absent. 

Corin is on his way home from basketball training. It’s a short way and he walks the distance every day. Less time to sit at home alone and let his thoughts start to whirl. His trainer and father Macero would have scoffed at his behaviour, would have punished him, would have pushed Corin to go harder, to finally use his potential and be the star-player he could be if he just tried harder. If he were not so weak. His father doesn’t though, not anymore. He had died about a year ago, leaving Corin alone in a team of ambitious players who won’t reject an opportunity to let Corin feel how much of an unwanted imposter he is. They are right, of course, but it still stings. They should fire him, Corin thinks, and is both relieved and terrified at the thought. He knows, they won’t, not when his father and now his aunt were the main sponsors of the team.

Corin looks up into the sky, absorbing the sight of the falling snowflakes when a car, way too fast for the incalculable conditions, catches his attention. It drives up quickly. There is a traffic light next to Corin, showing green for the pedestrians. A man, clad in a leatherjacket, with a child on his arm, crosses the street and Corin watches in horror as the car comes closer with no indication of slowing down.  
The car comes much too fast, and the man sees it way too late. He is unable to escape, the ground is too slippery from the number of cars driving through and transforming the street into a watery-icy trap.

Corin's vision narrows down to a corridor, time moves somehow slower. He wonders why the man doesn’t move; the threat is obvious! He finally does, but he slips and is on the verge of falling right where he stands, the child still in his arm.  
Corin acts out of pure instinct. He doesn’t want to see the man and his child connect with the bonnet, doesn’t want to hear the loud noise that is about to happen, doesn’t want to hear the child scream. He couldn’t bear the noise and dread spreads in his chest.  
He does the only thing he can, he jumps in front of the car and uses all his weight to shove the three of them out of the way. 

They fall, Corin forwards, the man backwards. The child slips from the man’s hands while he instinctively tries to catch himself with his arms as he falls onto the sidewalk. Corin catches the child and puts his arms around it like a cage while he tumbles and makes a halt in the snow with bis back. The car drives past and covers them in snow.  
“Whoa!” Corin puffs, adrenaline slamming heavily into his system.  
“Are you okay?” The man is already half up on his feet again, kneeling and bending over where Corin lies with the child. He reaches out his arms and Corin hands it over. It doesn’t cry. But its eyes are big and when the man cradles it close and checks for injuries a bright, alarming howl begins to fall from the child’s throat and tears start to run.

Its runs cold along Corin’s spine and not because of the snow he lies in. This is what he had wanted to avoid and now it happens nonetheless.  
“I’m so sorry!” he mumbles.  
“Gosh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t…” he shakes his head. Why did he always have to mess up? The child is crying because of him, the man will be very angry with him. Said man had gotten up and while shushing the child in one arm extends the other gloved hand to Corin.  
“Come one, let’s get off the street.”

Corin takes it reluctantly and lets himself get pulled up. When he looks around, he is astonished that their manoeuvre didn’t gather an audience. There are not a lot of people around anyway, all of them successfully minding their own businesses. Corin’s mind hums as the adrenaline recedes. The guilt still sits heavy in his chest and he looks at the man to apologize again.  
“This… I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to… I couldn’t stand the thought of it crying, I…”  
The man turns his gaze away from his crying child and looks in Corin’s eyes for the first time.  
“You saved his live. Our lives. That...” He says it with such graveness that Corin nearly believes him.

“I… he is crying… Are you hurt?” Corin has the presence of mind to ask.  
The man just grunts. He shushes the kid again and then looks to the street. “That bastard was way too fast.”  
“Definitely.” Corin agrees. “Where are you hurt?” he demands to know. He regrets it immediately, seeing the angry face of the man. He hunches his shoulders in await of a reprimand for his bold questioning. He shouldn’t have done that. It’s not his place to ask questions. The man obviously doesn’t want to say.  
“It’s nothing,” the man assures, his voice strangely absent of anger.  
The child has stopped crying and the man wipes the tears from its cheeks. The gesture is oddly contrasting with his tall, intimidating posture. Corin looks at the child and smiles so it doesn’t think of him as a threat any more than it already does.

“Hey little one, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry, I just thought…” he trails off and doesn’t really know how to finish. What had he thought?  
“We both thank you. Have you seen who was driving? Anything? Maybe we can fine that bastard.”  
“No, not really.” Damn, Corin should have paid more attention. His father would have been furious.  
“Then there isn’t really anything we can do.” The man observes resigned.  
“I… no, sorry, I have seen the car, but I can’t remember…”  
“Don’t worry. It’s fine. We are ok. You really have done enough.”  
Corin isn’t so sure about this.  
“Can I have your number? In case something comes up?” The man asks and Corin nods. He takes the offered phone and types in his name and number. The man takes it back, looks at the display and says: “We both owe you our lives Corin, I don’t know what I would have done…” he doesn’t finish his sentence.  
“It was… like a reflex… I couldn’t bear the thought of you... of him… the noise... That would have been… awful.” he finishes lamely.  
“Awful indeed.” The man grins lopsidedly. Clearly the adrenaline is affecting him as well. He looks back at his child.  
“We better get home; this is no weather for being outside. Don’t want these little fingers to freeze off.”  
Corin nods again. “Yeah, of course.” He looks at the child. “Don’t want that, don’t we? Look out for your dad ok? No good to get run over, you hear me?” The child looks at him and lets out a giggling noise.  
“Well then, bye Corin. And thank you again.” And with that the man and his child walk away.

Corin just stands there and looks after them until the disappear around a corner. It leaves him with a strange feeling in his chest. He could have done better, he knows, but the man had thanked him so openly, it would be easy to believe him.  
When he walks home, he realizes he knows neither the name of the child nor the name of the man.

##

The following days are accompanied by an anxious feeling. Corin gets up in the morning, heads to training, comes home, eats. Everything is normal. Nothing happens. That’s what makes it so strange. The accident feels so unreal. It’s such a stark contrast to Corin’s irksome, uneventful life that he can’t seem to process it. Corin itches to reach out and make sure the man and his child are truly fine and he regrets not asking for a number in return.  
But his phone stays silent.  
At least the first two days.

On the third day he is, again, on his way home from an excruciating training session. His legs feel like weights are strapped to them. His phone starts to chirm, which itself is unusual enough. When he looks at the display, it’s not a number he is familiar with. Agitation spreads in his chest. He answers.  
“Hello?”  
“Is this Corin? Here is Din.” Din? Huh. A baby screams in the background and confirms Corin’s presumption of who is calling. Not good. Was it after all hurt? Surely, bad luck had gotten up to him.  
“Yes, it’s me!” His voice, although concerned, sounds strangely eager.  
“Listen, I have a big favour to ask of you, I… it seems like there is something wrong with my arm from the when we fell on the street the other day, it started throbbing on the same evening and I can’t… I may need to go to the hospital, and he won’t stop crying and I can’t carry him properly…” Din sounds desperate.  
“I’ll come. Where are you?” Corin interrupts. It is his damn fault this man is hurt, and he won’t shy away from the consequences.  
Din names the address. It’s not far away and Corin decides for an impromptu sprint. Taking the car would waste precious minutes.

After about ten minutes of full sprint his legs feel like they could give in any time, but he sees the street Din has named. It’s a small one, the streetlights shining yellow on the still present snow which had turned into something muddy in places over the course of the day. Too warm, definitely. Sometime during his run, a slight drizzle starts to emerge from the sky and Corin doesn’t know which of the dampness he feels is from either sweat or rain. He rings the doorbell, and is let in almost immediately. He opens it stemming his bodyweight against the door. He is not sure which floor Din lives on, but nevertheless starts his ascent, taking two steps at a time.

He hears them before he sees them, a deepfelt cry echoing through the stairwell. When Din comes in sight, he has the kid on his left arm. There is a weary smile on his lips, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. His brown hair is mussed.  
Corin suddenly comes to halt in front of the doorframe and hovers awkwardly. What is he supposed to do now? Din is already retreating into his apartment and Corin settles on following him inside.  
Din stops in the kitchen turns around and asks “Can you hold him? Just for a bit? I tried to heat some milk, but he won’t let me do anything…” He stresses the last word. “Yeah, sure. Sure. Come here little one.” Corin extends his arms and Din places the crying child inside them. Corin instinctively starts rocking a bit, his voice a soft mumble.  
“Hey little one… I know you are upset and I’m really sorry, but your dad can’t do your food when you keep screaming. That’s not good, pshh, yes, I know…” It’s nonsense and Corin knows it but to his astonishment the cries are suddenly replaced by two big, widened eyes looking at him. He starts walking around and keeps talking.  
“Huh, you see, much better little one. We will get you something in your lil’ tummy and then we will take care of your dad, okay?” He smiles softly at the kid. Those big eyes are doing things to him. The kid still looks at him and when Corin makes a surprised noise stepping on something squeaky on the floor it giggles. That in reverse evokes another surprised noise from Corin and the giggle this time is even more audible. Corin can’t see but he suspects that Din is as surprised as him, going by the rustle of clothes that indicates him turning around abruptly. Corin keeps talking in a soft voice and doesn’t stop his pacing through the kitchen. He hopes it will be enough to hold back a new wave of tears.

“You can give him back to me now.” Din says when he has finished the bottle. He is sat on a chair and Corin places the child on his lap. He holds the bottle with his left arm while stabilizing the kid with his right. The arm looks somehow stiff, Corin notices. The child accepts the bottle eagerly, taking hungry mouthfuls.  
Corin watches for a while.  
“You are hurt?” He dares to ask again. This time Din had at least admitted it before.  
“I don’t know really. The arm was all fine when we parted, but when we got home it started pulsing a bit… and swelling… I don’t think it’s a good sign and I can’t really move it anymore.”  
Corin doesn’t say anything more, he fears Din will after all get angry with Corin for shoving him so ruthlessly.  
“I…” Din seems to struggle for words.  
“You don’t know how grateful I am you came. It… I don’t know if I would have gotten him to calm today. It’s hard to stay relaxed when somebody constantly screams in your ear.” He smirks a little and sighs.  
“You are good with kids.” He goes on. It’s a statement, not a question.  
“I… uh… I don’t know. Sometimes I think it’s my face… It looks funny so they like me.” Corin tries to explain.  
Din doesn’t say anything to that but Corin can’t help but think that he somehow looks… offended?  
“Do you want to go to the hospital? I can come and watch him if you want me to.” Corin offers. Din looks stunned for a moment but quickly regains his expression.  
“Would you really want do that? I don’t know how long it will take.”   
Corin doesn’t care, he wants to spend some more time with this adorable child.  
“Of course.”  
They wait until the kid has finished its bottle and Din awkwardly hoists him over his left shoulder to walk around in the kitchen some more.  
“What are you doing?” Corin wonders.  
“The burp has to come or there will be a nasty tummy ache at night.” Din says in a light voice, more to the kid than to Corin.  
“Oh, of course.” Corin feels stupid.

After a while another thought presses his mind.  
“What’s his name? I don’t think you mentioned it.”  
“Haven’t I?” Din looks bewildered. “It’s Grogu.”  
“Nice to meet you Grogu… and Din.” Corin declares, but one of the two clearly doesn’t listen to the formal introduction anymore and has trailed off into an exhausted sleep.  
Din nods in Corin’s direction.  
“Should we go now?” Corin asks. Was it a good idea to bring a sleeping child into a hospital? Wouldn’t the noises and lights wake him up again?  
“Yeah, let’s go. If we are fast, he will be sleeping through it. Let me just grab my wallet.” Din turns around, the child still in his arm. When he finds it, he tries to grab it with his right, but it keeps slipping through his fingers.  
“Let me.” Corin is up on his feet and takes the wallet from where it still lies. “Keys?” he adds.  
“In the lock.” Din answers, slips on some shoes and doesn’t bother with a jacket for himself and just takes one for the sleeping child.  
“Would you mind?” he asks, handing the tiny jacket to Corin, who carefully tries to slip the small arms through the sleeves. It is good luck the kid doesn’t wake during his clumsy attempt in dressing it.  
When done, Corin grabs the keys, opens the door and locks it after Din follows him.  
“You will have to drive my car.” Din looks at Corin. Corin nods.  
“Roger that.”

##

It has grown late in the A+E. They sit on chairs that are clearly not designed for comfort but for easy cleaning. Corin feels the long training hours in his bones as he is slumped down in his seat. Din next to him has Grogu in his steady grip and shows no sign of discomfort besides a glance to the reception from time to time. 

He radiates a dormancy that seeps into Corin’s aching muscles and lets him relax. He almost nods off but gets startled by a nurse approaching.  
“Mr. Djarin – you can come with me now.”  
Din glances up at her and then turns his head to Corin.  
“Can you take him? I won’t be long. Hopefully.”  
“Yes, yes, I’m ready.”  
Corin extends his arms and cradles the sleeping Grogu close as Din hands him over. The kid doesn’t even stir and Corin smiles reassuringly.  
“We will be fine.”  
“I know.” Din says and hurries to go after the nurse.

##

It takes some time but Corin is fine. He hadn’t expected so much contentment, but it seems to radiate not only from Din but from the little one too. When Grogu stirs, Corin carefully strokes his head and lulls him back to sleep. 

When Din comes back, his arm is in a sling and there is a slight frown on his face. 

He is led to sign something and then approaches Corin with some papers in his other hand.  
“What did they say?” Corin asks quietly.  
“Slightly broken. Twice.” Din taps on a spot on his forearm, about three fingers above the wrist.  
“That must have hurt!” Corin is unable to hold back.   
Din had dealt with this for nearly three days! 

Din just grunts noncommittally.  
“Let’s go home. I have taken too much of your time already.” He sounds tired.  
“That’s fine, I’m glad I can help.” Corin assures as they head back outside. They drive back in silence.  
“That’s it? Is it fixed now?” Corin wants to know as he parks the car.  
“Mhh, will have to get some sort of splint when the swelling recedes.” Din doesn’t sound happy.  
“Oh okay… I…”  
“Thank you for all the help you did today.” Din interrupts. 

“I really… can’t thank you enough.” He clearly struggles for words.  
“That… of course… I can help you, whatever you need.” Corin says. Din had been so kind to him, unlike anybody else Corin knows not acting like he is an unwanted presence. And Corin would do anything to see this child smile at him again.  
“You should go home now, I can manage the rest.” Din takes Grogu into his left arm and closes the car door with his hip.  
“You sure?” Corin asks bewilderedly.  
“I’m fine,” Din clips.  
“Okay then… see you?” It’s more a question than a goodbye.  
“Sure.” With that Din turns around and walks away.  
Corin needs a long time to walk home.

##

Din is angry with him, Corin is sure of that. 

It had been the end of a long day and pain medicine and weariness had been tearing on Din’s artificial composure. Throughout the day he had Corin thinking that maybe Din really held no grudge against him, but their goodbye had taught him the truth. 

Corin is a menace and as that shouldn’t be allowed to be let loose onto society. It is actually good luck for Corin that he had been dismissed before Din had raised his voice. Or worse. But he still feels sad when arriving home; there is a hollow pang in his chest

##

When Corin looks at his phone on a brief break in the locker room the next day, he sees two missed calls. From Din. His heart jolts and he slams the buttons to call back.  
“Corin?” a deep voice answers.  
“Yeah, it’s me… you called?” Corin offers.  
“Listen. This may sound a bit silly, but would you mind coming around some time? I think the child wants to see you again…”  
“Me…? How would you know that?” Corin is stunned. The kid is far to you young to be speaking, isn’t it?  
“Don’t laugh at me -”  
“I won’t.” Corin assures.  
“I think… I think he is pouting. He is angry with me because you are not here. He refuses everything from me, I’m not even allowed to feed him.”  
“That sounds… Do kids do this?” Corin isn’t sure this is normal behaviour.  
“I don’t know really, but I have been to three doctors now and there is nothing wrong with him. You are sort of my last guess.” Din sounds as if he truly is at his wits’ end.  
“Uhm… I could come to see him after training today?” Corin suggests, still wary of the whole thing.  
“That would be great.” Din says.  
“Okay, see you then?” Corin hears a voice shouting for him. “I have to go now.”  
“See you later,” and with that Din hangs up.  
That is not what Corin would have suspected. He tries to brace himself for the upcoming meeting and hopes he will not further evoke Din’s anger. He hadn’t sounded mad just now, so that is good luck?

##

When Corin arrives at Din’s the door is left ajar for him to enter and close it on his own. He briefly wonders if he should take his shoes off and goes for it in the end. Better safe than sorry. 

There is a complaining noise to be heard from further inside the apartment and Corin follows it through the narrow, dark hallway. He stops on the threshold of a room that seems to be Din’s bedroom, walls painted in a light grey and a small double bed in one corner. 

Except, the floor, covered by a thick grey rug, is littered with toys and there is a crib in the other corner of the room. Apparently not only Din’s room, Corin muses. 

Din is with his back to him, bending down and picking up the child. Corin clears his throat, hoping he hasn’t crossed any boundaries by coming in on his own.  
“Hey…” His voice sounds weak.  
Din, with the child on his hips, turns and walks up to Corin.  
“Look, who came for you!” he rumbles, looking down at the child. His eyes seem to plead silently.  
Corin lifts his hand for a small, awkward wave. “Hello little one. What are you up to?”  
The child, who had been quiet since being picked up changes his frown for a tooth-achingly sweet smile. Corin is astonished at how expressive its small face already is. 

Suddenly, without an announcement, Grogu is handed to him and Corin reflexively extends his arms. The kid seems to have its objections and as soon as he is held by Corin struggles to get free and to the ground. 

So Corin sets him down and watches as Grogu crawls over to a crate. There he pulls out a small plush toy, a turtle with big eyes, and makes his way back to where Corin now crouches on the ground. 

Corin takes the turtle handed to him and comments: “Oh, hello! Thank you, who is that?”  
As soon as Corin has the turtle in his hands the child turns around to recover another of his treasures. Corin just sits and waits, praising every toy the child delivers to him. After a while he and the ground around him are bathed in toys and Grogu squeaks excitedly when Corin takes the turtle and speaks to Grogu with an altered voice. 

Corin takes a stuffed donkey in his other hand and soon the two animals are engaged in a rather deep conversation. Grogu is laughing whole-heartedly and keeps petting the animals’ heads. After a while the child extracts the donkey from Corin’s hands and starts to inspect it thoroughly.

Corin looks around in the room. It looks comfortable but somehow spartanly. Well, except for what obviously belongs to the kid. 

There is no decoration, no pictures on the wall and the only thing occupying the one bedside table is a small lamp. The curtains are white and heavy and cover the entirety of the windowfront. Light comes through but no image of what the view could be like outside. 

Corin turns his head the other way. He startles as he sees Din leaning onto a white cupboard, arms crossed above his chest, looking at them. 

He had forgotten entirely about him. One hand, Corin notices, is enclosed by a removeable splint. Din catches Corin looking at him.

“I was right, obviously.” He deadpans and is there an offended touch in his voice?  
“You made in impression, as it seems. I will let you to it then.” With that he just turns around and leaves, an inscrutable expression on his face. 

He hasn’t forgiven Corin then. Why should he, anyway? Now Corin also is the reason his kid won’t stop throwing tantrums. 

Corin feels guilty even more. He is nothing but a burden to Din. Maybe he can appease Din if he just stays out of his sight? 

Corin will be as unobtrusive as possible, he decides. He keeps his voice low, trying not to laugh too loudly when Grogu tries to tickle his feet.

Grogu giggles and coos and looks up with his big innocent eyes to glance at Corin. Affection flourishes in Corin’s chest. He loves this kid, he knows it. It may not be his, but this child deserves all the love it can get. Corin is momentarily stunned by his train of thought, but he has no doubt he is right. The feeling for this little kid that he just got to know for such a short time is already overwhelming. He knows, he would give his life for this child, without hesitation. He breathes once and continues playing with Grogu.  
A bit later Grogu starts yawning and Corin picks up on the sign.  
“Come on,” he says. “Play time is over. Let’s go find your dad.”  
Corin is a little anxious when he walks through the apartment with the child on his arm. He looks into a tiny room that is obviously used as a living room, a TV standing on a table in front of one wall. There are more toys dispersed on the floor and a small beige sofa that doesn’t really live up to its function and is more a larger armchair sitting on the opposite wall. No Din in here. Corin turns around and finds him in the only room left, the kitchen. Din sits at the table, scrolling through a tablet. At the sound of footsteps, he looks up.  
“Having enough already?” It sounds like a challenge.  
“I think he is tired, he was yawning and rubbing his eyes.” Corin answers defensively.  
“Right… Then let’s make quick work of it.”  
With that he starts to prepare a bottle, leaving Corin standing awkwardly. The child yawns again.  
Din feeds the kid and then leaves with it on his arm without another word.  
Corin still stands there like something ordered and never picked up. Is he expected to go now? Or would that be rude? He doesn’t know which of his two options would spark more ire from Din, so he just stays where he is, standing next to the kitchen counter.  
It takes a while until Din comes back, Corin can feel it in the way his tired back protests in its stiff position. When Din does, he opens a compartment, pulling out two mugs. He prepares tea and then sits down on his previously occupied chair, setting the two mugs on the table.  
“Tea.” He says and points at one mug, shoving it in Corin’s direction. It is not a question.  
Hesitantly, Corin sits down and takes the mug into his hands. The tea is hot, still too hot to drink. It steams and Corin nervously tilts it in his hands.  
“I haven’t been lying when I said he was being pouty. That was no fun. It’s… good that you’re here,” Din begins.  
Corin can’t believe his ears. Good? He can’t remember anybody, ever, saying that concerning his presence. He must have understood something wrong. So, he tries to explain himself.  
“I… I’m really sorry, you… you shouldn’t have to put up with me… I tried to be quiet…”  
“Corin, you can stop saying that you are sorry. I’m not angry with you. Why would I be?”  
“I… because I hurt you… and the child… I disturbed him…” Corin explains confused.  
“No, you didn’t hurt me. You saved my life. That’s what you did.”  
“But he… you say he is mad because of me.”  
“Yes, but that was apparently because he wanted to see you. And you just made him more than happy with your patience.”  
“I… Uh…” Corin doesn’t know what to say. It’s hard to believe what Din says. He decides to say what comes to his mind next.  
“Your child is unbelievably adorable. You are so lucky to have him.” Corin isn’t sure but he thinks to notice a small flinch on Dins face. There is a short pause.  
“I am.” Din says gravely, but there is a sadness in how he says it.  
Corin doesn’t dare to pry on it, in fear of getting Din angry again. But Corin must ask something else.  
“Is there… Do you think… uh… It might be possible… I could visit him again?” Corin stammers. The question sounds stupid in Corin’s ears and he nearly regrets asking it. But he has to try. There is a sense of contentedness that he feels at being here and seeing a giggling child and it is so unlike anything other he ever felt in his life. He knows pain, guilt, embarrassment, fear but what he finds here is something new. It is addicting and Corin isn’t sure he could endure the loss of this feeling. He even feels it now, sitting opposite to Din, a still steaming mug in his hands. It feels… nice. Like his usually storming thoughts come to a halt.  
“Yes, absolutely.” Din surprises him. “I hoped you would say that. He obviously adores you. I thought maybe we could do something regularly scheduled if this is alright with you?”  
Corin can’t fathom his luck and nearly trips over his own words in his next sentence. “I… I have time every day after training, I could come over, just like today…?”  
Din seems caught off guard by this.  
“Oh, I thought more like once a week.” He seems to think. “But if every day is fine with you…?”  
Corin is mortified. Damn, he never knows where his good luck ends.  
“I mean, if you don’t want me here all the time, of course, yes once a week is fine too, I didn’t mean…”  
“No, I think Grogu would like something more frequent just fine. Maybe it is a good distraction.” Din muses.  
Corin is silent. He takes a sip from his tea. It tastes like apple and cinnamon.  
“Ok?” Din asks and looks at Corin.  
Corin nods.

##

After that day, Corin finds himself, more than ever, looking for the end of his training. He doesn’t like it, but it’s what is expected from him, so he goes anyway. His teammates are daunting, and he tries to keep his distance. It doesn’t always work and sometimes he finds himself shoved into a locker or tackled with an aimed shoulder. Sometimes it’s worse. He knows he could defend himself and probably be successful. But he is too afraid of what would come after that, after he breaks a nose with his fist like he sometimes fantasizes about. He dreads the consequences, the uncertainty of his fate, to not be in control of it anymore. So, he endures whatever they do to him and does his best to not attract attention.  
But now he actually has something nice to look forward to every day. It somehow makes it harder to go through the unpleasantries of training first, but the reward in the evening is worth it. More than worth it. 

He mostly plays with the kid, in his room or in the small living room. Din is rarely in the same room with them and Corin sits on the floor, making weird noises until Grogus face is red from laughing. Sometimes Din goes away. He never says where he goes but comes back before Corin can start to worry.  
He doesn’t want his daily rays of hope to stop. It is kind of frightening to him how much he grew attached to the kid and his father and he dreads the day Din will put an end to it. But the day will come, Corin says to himself. One part of him tries to prepare him for that, the other part is in utter denial.  
Occasionally the three of them head for a walk and Grogu is fascinated by everything moving and stares intrigued. Din doesn’t say much and Corin tries to stay out of his hair as good as possible. 

It doesn’t work. It’s the first day the sun comes through after a long strain of unpleasant and cold rain. There is no way Corin stays inside with the child. As much as he likes the snow, he now want’s the sun to touch his skin and show Grogu how colourful the world can be. In his enthusiasm Corin drags the reserved Din with him into a nearby park. They walk, Corin with Grogu in his arms, excitedly pointing at the first spring flowers peeking through the soil and explaining the different noises to Grogu. The kid listens with big eyes. Suddenly a thought strikes Corin and he just blurts it out in his eagerness. Why had he never thought of that before?  
“Where is his mother?”  
The glare he receives from Din lets Corin flinch and he is immediately sure he crossed more than one boundary with this question. He can see the anger glint in Dins eyes, his lips are pressed to a thin line. Fear slams in Corin’s chest. Why did he ask that? How could he be this stupid, he should have thought about his words! Now Din will send him home and never allow him to come back. It runs hot and cold along Corin’s spine.  
“Not your concern.” Din snaps curtly.  
This is it. Corin knows it and he tries to keep as still as possible, staring to the ground. Everything he does will only increase Dins fury further. He waits and doesn’t dare to glance over to Din.  
Nothing happens and Din just continues to walk.  
In a way this is even worse than being reprimanded. Corin just doesn’t seem to exist in Din’s mind anymore as he marches on. Corin’s heart sinks. This is how it is. He is not worth Din’s attention. He knew it before, but it hurts to actually feel the other man act that way. Grogu makes a quizzical sound. Corin strokes his head. “I will miss you, buddy.” He whispers in the child’s ear. But Corin refuses to let him see his tears.  
When they reach Dins flat again Corin hands Grogu over, looking at the ground to avoid seeing Dins anger. Guilt and sadness make his stomach nauseous. He wants to say something, something, to make his last goodbye less… hostile?  
“I… Thank you for the time you let me spend with him. I… I will never forget that.” His throat feels tight. Gathering all his courage Corin looks up to memorize the picture of the two one last time. His gaze is met with a confused stare from both parties.  
“I expect you to be here tomorrow.” Din says in a determined voice. Corin can sense no anger in it. He is confused. Why would Din say something like that after what Corin had done today? This must be some cruel joke.  
“Do you want to come here tomorrow?” Din asks eventually, his voice a tad softer than before. Corin nods hesitantly. Oh, how badly he wants to! His heart clenches.  
“Corin… It’s fine, ok? Just come the same time you always do.” With that Din lightly pats Corin’s shoulder with his cast arm, turns around and heads inside. Puzzled, Corin is left standing outside. He is allowed to come back? A warm feeling spreads in his chest and somehow the way back home feels like he is levitating.


	2. Chapter 2

A few days later Corin sits on the floor in Dins kitchen and plays peek-a-boo with a giggling child. Grogu is not quite aware of the fact that Corin can see him although he can’t see Corin when hiding behind his hands and Corin plays along, making a surprised sound every time the kid pulls its hands away from its face. It is utterly adorable. 

Din is with them, a few steps away, stirring something on the stove. Probably something soft, Corin muses, as the child had begun eating more and more regular food instead of milk. 

The atmosphere between them is relaxed and Corin had managed to not conjure Dins anger again after the incident in the park. He even wonders if Din over time got more used to his presence as they now more frequently end up in the same room playing with Grogu instead of Corin sitting with him separated. 

Corin gets up as the kid becomes bored with the game and crawls under the table to inspect whatever it finds there. Probably a just few crumbs, nothing that could harm him. 

Slowly, Corin approaches the steaming pot on the stove. Din is stirring with his left hand, looking at his phone for the recipe with his right hand. 

Corin blinks and does a double take. It had been the right arm which had been injured, hadn’t it? The splint is gone! 

Corin instinctively grabs Dins wrist, circling it to inspect the arm. It looks fine, healed, no bruises and no swelling. Dins skin is soft, soft and golden there, besides being hidden away for several weeks.  
Corin is utterly fascinated and lets his fingers trail along the beautiful skin. His fingers track along the tendons and muscles and suddenly Corin can feel a pulse. 

It is racing beneath his touch. All at once Corin notices that Dins whole form has gone utterly still, he has stopped stirring and the knuckles of the hand he holds the phone with are white. He can’t even hear him breathing. 

Corin looks up but Din stares at where their skins meet, with dilated pupils.  
Does Corin hurt him? Oh no, he must be!  
As fast as he can Corin lets go of the wrist and hides his hands behind his back.

Din breathes loudly once and mechanically begins stirring again. “Sorry…” Corin says and hastily retreats where Grogu waits for him to join in his small fort under the table. Din just keeps stirring.

##

The next day is excruciating for Corin. Training is always hard and never as fun as one would imagine. He gets admonished more than once to keep his concentration, but he can’t seem to please the huge figure of Eugene, his trainer. 

When he fails his third throw from the three-point line he gets dragged to the side with a harsh grip on his biceps.

“I don’t why you keep doing this, Valentis, but hear me: one more slip and I will make you regret it! You don’t get special treatment merely because of your name!” It snarls in Corin’s ears.  
Eugene is furious. Corin can only nod. He knows he has messed up but not on purpose! 

He gets released and jogs over to line up for his next try. Why can he never be good in anything he does? He knows it is his fault. His father had said so too when he was the one to train him and the team. Corin just never tried hard enough. 

It’s Corin turn again. He concentrates and breathes. His eyes focus and the ball is about to leave his hands when he feels a painful pinch in the skin of his waist. 

Corin arms twitch slightly and the ball leaves its intended trajectory to bounce off the rim of the basket. Corin’s heart sinks.

There is a whistle and Corin is waved over to face his trainer. 

Eugene growls. “Run. Now. Around the field. You don’t stop until I say so. DO IT!” 

Corin runs, away from the shouting man to circle the field. He deserves this. He had missed when not allowed to. Such a simple task and he had failed nonetheless. 

He runs and runs and sweat is running down his forehead and his back. He runs until the training ends and doesn’t stop when all his teammates leave through the door. They laugh at his panting ordeal and wave mockingly. 

Corin feels relieved when he has passed them on his track and doesn’t have to see their snickering faces anymore.  
Eugene stays for a long time, watching Corin with a stern face as he does his laps.

Corin doesn’t know how long but finally there is a barked “STOP!” and his feet slither to a halt. His knees nearly buckle under him as he tries to catch his breath. 

He suddenly feels dizzy. Eugene walks over and eyes him derogatory.  
“Go home.” He says, turns on his heels and walks away from the still panting Corin.  
It takes Corin all he has to get his exhausted legs to move again. He glances at the big clock in the gym and is startled by the time. He is more than two hours late for his meet-up with Din and Grogu! No! He has to hurry! 

Corin dodges all thoughts on a shower and dry clothes. He merely grabs his bag and rushes outside. He ends up running to Dins, regardless of his vehemently complaining legs and nearly bursting lungs. He can’t let them down!

When he is at Dins door and looks in the face of the two, he can’t say anything and tries to breathe and not pass out on Dins doorstep. Din looks concerned.  
“What happened?”

Corin can’t answer und just gives a variety of vowels while shaking his head. He suddenly feels light. Is he swaying or is the floor just being silly? 

He doesn’t know but suddenly there is a hand around his waist and he is guided inside, to sit on a chair in the kitchen. Sitting is better, Corin decides. 

The ground has stopped swaying and it feels good to have his weight removed from his terribly aching legs. Something cold and wet settles in his neck and Corin groans in pleasure at the contact. He hadn’t realised how hot he is. It feels heavenly. 

Din also puts a glass of water in front of him. As soon as Corin has regained his breath a fraction, he finishes it in one gulp. Better. They sit in silence for a while until Din asks again.

“Corin, what happened?” 

Shouldn’t Din be angry with him? He is too late, very much so, without even informing Din. But Din still sounds concerned.

Corin answers.  
“I messed up and the trainer made me do some extra laps. As punishment, so I learn to not do it again.”

“Some?” Din asks sceptically. “Looks more like two and a half marathons to me.”

“Well, I deserved it. I missed several throws today.”

“And that earns you three hours of running like a maniac?” Din still doesn’t sound convinced.

“I had to run here too.” Corin defends.

Din sighs.

The child in Dins arms is demanding to be let down. Din obeys, then refills Corin’s glass and brings one for himself too. 

“I’m glad you’re here now.”

Corin is too and he can feel the tension he held throughout the day slowly leave his body. Here, in this apartment is no room for it.  
It feels nice.  
Save. 

He leans forward to take the glass again and is suddenly aware of just how sweaty and wet his shirt is. It feels disgusting as his body cools down. 

He takes the wet towel from his neck and places it on the table after wiping his face with it once.

“Where is my bag?” he asks. Din points next to Corin’s feet where it sits and is inspected by Grogus professional hands. With one move Corin has pulled both his training shirt and his undershirt over his head and discards them on the floor. 

There is a loud clank from his opposite side. Had Din just… knocked over his glass? It looks like it as he is now frantically wiping the table with a stray rag of Grogus.  
Strange. 

Corin bends over to rummage in his bag after carefully releasing the kids hands from it. He finds what he looks for and pulls out a spare t-shirt. When he straightens, he finds the table dry again and Din has his eyes focused on something behind Corin’s right ear. 

His face is void of expression except his slightly widened eyes. Huh? Corin turns around but sees nothing worth of this exceptional attention. Wondering, he turns back and pulls the shirt over his head. Better. Din clears his throat.

“Hungry?” he asks.

Before Corin can say anything, Din is out of his seat and heading into the hallway. Corin can hear him mumble something from take away. Corin remains sitting, content to watch Grogu inspecting the contents of his training bag.

##

The once spring-like weather has gone back to a grey and rainy muddle of days without any hope in changing soon. 

Grogu is getting more mobile and is way faster in crawling than when Corin first met him and sometimes Dins small apartment gets quite cramped. They both find that the child needed more space to practice his mobility. 

Corin had come up with granting him some free but safe space in his gym. After his training on Tuesday and Thursday there is usually a three-hour period where the gym is unoccupied and they agreed to meet there instead of Din’s apartment as they would have otherwise.

Corin and his team do their last two cooldown rounds before they are dismissed and head directly into the showers. 

Corin lets cold water spray in his face and with quick moves washes his hair. He likes the contrast of his hot body with the cold water. It is not quite freezing, but with how heated up he is its trails like ice off his body. It makes him feel aware of every pulse thrumming through his veins and washes away every ounce of fatigue. 

With excitement he thinks of who probably already waits for him on the outside of the building and the smile is still on his face when he emerges the locker room with his bag shouldered to head back through the gym to the exit. That is when he hears a voice.

“Hey, pretty boy!” it barks snidely. “What are you laughing at?”

Corin tries to ignore them, as usual, but bad luck seems eager to remind him of what position he is in. 

Lately some guys from his team are even more eager to needle him. 

Corin holds up his stride and is nearly by the door when he is slammed into the wall by a hand to his chest. 

Oh please! Not now! 

Not when an adorable child and his father are waiting on the other side of this door. He has to get through this, just a little bit more, he thinks, and then he will be free, with Din and the child. 

“Didn’t you hear me?” 

Corin looks up. It’s the big blonde guy, Phil. He is usually verbose in mocking Corin. Not so verbose now as it seems and more eager to physically get a reaction from Corin.

“Hey!” he shouts in Corin’s face. 

Corin clenches his teeth. 

“Answer me, Sissy!”

Instead of answering Corin tries to shove Phil away but only comes so far until another guy, Connor, takes hold of Corin’s wrists behind his back. 

Panic spreads in Corin’s chest. When Din is here, so is the little one. He can’t let them get to child! He hast to do something! He has to get to Grogu and Din and warn them!

“Fuck you!” Corin spits and uses all his weight to shove forward and escape the hands holding him back. 

He gets free momentarily and tries to slip past the hand Phil still presses against his chest. He nearly manages, but there is one more pair of hands, grabbing his shirt and pulling him back. 

He loses his balance for a moment and Phil uses it to shove a knee in Corin’s stomach. Corin groans. 

A part of his brain seems to still be functioning on a logical rather than instinctual base, probably due to adrenaline and pain. If Corin can’t get away he can at least gather all the attention until Din senses the danger and leaves or the boys get bored. 

He just has to endure a little longer. 

He growls “Bastard!” And it earns him a left hook to his jaw. Corin can’t supress an agonized howl.

That is when the door of the gym slams open and Din barges in. 

“Let him go!” he commands.  
Din looks furious, more furious than Corin has ever seen him. Like a warrior ready for vengeance. 

He storms directly to where Phil holds Corin and uses his moment of surprise to connect his fist with Phil’s temple. 

He goes down like a dead weight. When the third guys fist is aimed at Dins throat, he dodges the blow and shoves him backwards.  
Connor lets go of Corin’s hands and goes for a kick to Dins knee. But Din is too fast and moves behind him and kicks his knee so he is sent to the floor on all fours. 

The third guy lands a blow to Din's gut, but Din merely grunts and headbutts him hard enough to go flying backwards. He doesn’t move after that. 

Connor on his knees sees the other two unconscious and scrambles to his feet. 

When Din doesn’t make another move immediately, he takes his chance and runs in the direction of the locker rooms. 

Corin is stunned. Had Din just knocked out three professional athletes? For him?

Now alone, Din hurriedly approaches Corin where he just stands, lost. 

He tenderly grips Corin’s chin with his fingers once he comes to halt mere centimetres in front of him.

“You okay?” he asks, all anger gone from his voice. 

Din sounds worried and his eyes muster Corin’s chin, which probably sports a nice purple colour by now. 

His eyes, Corin notices, are a deep, soft brown. There are wrinkles around the outer corners and they gently look down on him. 

“Yeah.” Corin manages, coarsely. Dins hand slides from his chin to cup his neck instead and a shiver runs down Corin’s spine. The hand remains for just a ghost of a second before Din turns around and heads for the door.

“Grogu?” Corin asks worried. Where had Din left the kid? Was he ok?

“Sleeps.” Din informs him and points at the pram standing in the foyer of the gym. Corin is relieved at the sight and quickly heads over to make sure he is alright.

“Should we leave?” Din asks, suddenly sounding uncertain.

“Yes please.” Corin really does not want to be around when these guys wake up.

##

“Do you want to talk about it?” Din asks a while later when they sit on the floor in the cramped living room.

“No, not really.” Corin sighs. 

This hadn’t been the first time a situation within his team escalated.  
Sure, Corin thinks, he had in his past caught several punches, bad been target of their ire for many reasons. This is nothing new. It’s fine. But there usually were no unconscious bodies. 

He doesn’t know why they all seem to hate him, but after a while he had stopped trying to befriend them. It never ended well for him. 

He could not always escape their mockeries and it wasn’t always enough to stay still until they lost interest. 

But today had been the first time one of his teammates had caught a blow. And what a blow! 

Corin marvels at Din’s determination, his easy control over a situation he wouldn’t have dared to manage. 

But why had Din done this? 

Risk his health, probably his life for someone like Corin? He can’t quite fathom it. Din had probably just been concerned for the kid’s safety. But why had he been so terrifyingly furious?

On this evening Din and Corin agree to delay their plans for Grogus gym visit for a while, at least until they can be sure his team won’t remember Din’s face anymore. Which could take a while.

##

Corin is nervous when he heads to training the next day. 

He knows technically none of this is his fault and he didn’t punch anyone. But still. He doubts any of the three will let him off the hook quite so easily. 

He wishes Din would be here with him. It would have made Corin feel a lot safer than he does now, entering the gym. 

He warily approaches the locker rooms and sets down his bag on a bench. He is one of the last ones to show up and the room is quite stuffed. 

But nobody sheds a glance at him. When he looks around, he tries to catch a gaze, but everybody seems to avoid his eyes purposely. Huh. 

He could live with that. 

Corin accepts it with carefully practiced indifference, a skill he developed over constant years of varying teasing behaviour from his teammates. Nothing he couldn’t handle.  
He is fine, he would get through it and forget everything about it in the evening with the kid and Din. 

Corin closes his eyes and breathes deeply.

They day goes by uneventful and Corin is relieved when he finally gets to head over to Din. At this point, he muses he spends most of free time there. And still, it feels like it’s not enough and every time he returns home, he feels a pang of loneliness in his chest. 

The house he once lived in with his father and that is now his, is way too big and empty to feel comfortable. Somehow it suffocates him every time he steps into the entrance hall and he is met with the stare of the portrait of his father. 

He knows his reaction is wrong, but he can’t help it. It crawls under his skin and punishes him with a disappointed, disgusted glare. 

Corin knows he deserves it. 

He misses his father often. Mostly when he fails at training or when he doesn’t know what to do with himself, when he feels like missile shot into space without a target. 

With his father here, he wouldn’t have had to think about that. His father always had a plan for him, and Corin wouldn’t have found himself awake at night staring and thinking. 

But somewhere deep down he knows he wouldn’t have been happier with his father here. He would have feared him, would have been pushed harder, over his limits. 

It would have hurt. A lot. 

Corin knows how to endure, ignore pain but he fears the disappointment he would have seen in his fathers eyes. 

Corin would have never been enough in Macero Valentis’ eyes. Corin doesn’t know if he could have endured that.

At Dins’ a heavenly smell awaits him and Corin hurriedly flops down in his usual chair after placing the child in his newly purchased baby chair. He eats enthusiastically and doesn’t see the amused smile Din crooks at him while feeding the child. 

When finished he cleans the table while Din cleans the kid, which always insisted on shovelling food not only into his mouth but at least on his whole face and his hands. 

Din sighs. 

After that they go over to playing, testing out a set of finger paint Corin brought a while ago.

It is a mess as Corin expected it to be but Grogu is more than amused by squishing his hands into the colours and mixing them all together. The child looks way worse than it had mere hours ago and Corin suspects today would be a good time for a bath. For both of them probably. 

Corin conjures up some more paper and they paint together artwork after artwork until Grogu starts yawning. Corin glances at the clock which confirms bedtime is due. 

He calls for Din to bring a rag and starts to close the small colour buckets. 

Din sighs again at their sight and starts wiping at the child’s hands. He soon realises this a pointless encounter and looks at Corin.

“Would you help me bathe him?”

“Sure.” Corin nods. “Let me just… do something about this first.” He holds up his colourful hands and is tossed another rag by Din.

When the kid is bathed and dry, Din asks: “Do you want to put him to bed today?”

Corin is mesmerized. He? Din dares him to put his child to bed? 

Normally, Corin would be gone by now, he had never been part of that routine. 

Grogu looks trustfully up from where he is huddled in Dins arms. 

“You have some paint there.” Din murmurs and points at his cheek. 

Suddenly he approaches Corin and his hand caresses Corin’s cheek in a gentle gesture, trying to wipe the paint away. The hand slides to Corin’s neck and cradles it.

“I think he would like it.” Din says in a quiet voice. “I know you can do it.”

Corin’s cheek tingles and a smile spreads across his face. Din trusts him enough to put his child to bet, trusts him that he doesn’t mess up. It makes Corin’s heart sing.

Dins hand leaves where it rested in Corin’s neck and he hands Corin the child. 

Corin puts down grogu in his cot, mumbling softly until he hears deep even breathes from the cot. 

He stays an extra twenty minutes to make sure he doesn’t wake him up again. 

When he emerges, he expects Din to hover in front of the door to check up on them but finds the hallway void of any presence. He finds Din in the kitchen heating up what they had eaten before. When Corin comes in, Din turns his head to him.

“I hoped you would like to eat some more? Seems I have made too much.” He sounds… haltingly?

Corin’s stomach grumbles at the once again awakened delicious smell. “I would love to!”

They sit and eat and talk and when Corin leaves Din’s apartment it is a lot later than he expected it to be. 

The closer he comes to his house, the more it feels like he has forgotten some part of him in Din’s apartment. It doesn’t feel right to leave, and his heart feels empty at the thought of the big, eery house awaiting him. 

It’s the thought of the present day - the food, talk, the kid, Din - that keeps Corin sane. And the anticipation of seeing them again tomorrow. He enters his doorstep.

Corin doesn’t see them beforehand, but suddenly he is encircled by five guys in black hoods. He stands no chance; they capture his wrists and pull them back in a way his shoulders protest. He can’t get free no matter how much he struggles. 

“Let me go!” he grits through his teeth.

“Not a chance, posh boy.” 

It’s Phil. Of course. 

Corin should have known he was not about to let this go. Bad luck, probably the reprimand for all the good luck he was allowed to experience today. 

Phil doesn’t hesitate one second and bluntly thrusts his fist into Corin’s face and he briefly goes blind as several other hits strike his face and torso. Corin doesn’t know whose fists batter his body and for a short time he can’t distinguish upside from downside, the only thing keeping him in place the bruising grip around his wrists. 

It stings and he can taste blood in his mouth. He wheezes in pain. He has no way to get out of this, no Din to have his back. 

Corin feels a hysteric rush of relive at the thought of Din. At least Corin knows he and Grogu are save and probably sound asleep. It doesn’t last long as he gets his vison back and something metallic blinks in front of his eyes. A knife. The blows stop.

“Listen,” Phil growls. “If I ever see your cowboy-bastard with his leather jacket again you both are dead. Understand?” 

Corin doesn’t answer, his throat is too tight. They are threatening Din! 

“Answer me!” 

Phil’s breath stinks. 

When Corin still does not, Phil takes the knife and agonizingly slow trails it along Corin’s throat. It burns. 

Corin can feel the blood pour out of the thin slit in his skin the knife leaves. It’s not a deep cut but it still hurts.  
Corin grits his teeth to supress any noise leaving his mouth. He won’t give them this satisfaction.

When Phil is done with him, he straightens to his full height. 

“Let him go.” He says, his voice nearly disinterested. 

Corin is shoved away from the hands holding him, away from his doorstep into the garden. He stumbles and just as he regains his balance there is a painful kick to his lower back sending him on hands and knees. 

His skin rips open at the contact with the ground. Corin scrambles back on his feet as fast as he can and doesn’t look back as he runs, fast and far, far away from his tormentors. 

He is in the middle of the way to Din before he realises where his body is leading him. With how often he has run this way over the last weeks, a cynical part of Corin nearly wonders why there isn’t a visible path from his shoes.

Once there Corin contemplates just waiting outside in order not to disturb Din and the little one but the urge for the safety within is so overwhelming Corin ends up ringing the doorbell. 

It takes a while until Din buzzes the door open, just as Corin is about to give up hope and wants to sit down on the doorstep until morning. 

He jolts up and hurries to Din’ apartment door. It is opened just a crack but when Din catches the first glimpse of Corin’s battered form he swings it open fully and retreats to let him in. 

Corin is ushered into the kitchen onto his usual chair and Din disappears. When he comes back, he holds a box in his hands and closes the door behind him. He only wears a t-shirt and knee-length pants, an uncommon sight for Corin. He never imagined Din could own something else besides his usual worn-out jeans and dark V-neck pullovers. 

Din pulls the remaining chair in front of Corin, taking his chin in his careful hands and tilting it to the side.

“Who did that?” his voice is flat with barely contained anger. Dread spreads in Corin’s chest at the sound. Din is angry with him? 

He clenches his eyes shut and carefully swallows. He should have been more careful, shouldn’t have let them do this to him. He should have been better, and Din wouldn’t be so disappointed, so furious. It’s all his fault, he knows it! No bad luck, just him being his stupid self.

“I… I’m sorry, I didn’t know… I should have been more carful… They hid right by my doorstep…”

Din takes deep breath and shuts his eyes for a tad to long for it being a normal blink. When he looks back at Corin the anger is banished from his face and his eyes look… soft? Worried?  
That can’t be right. Corin is confused.

“Corin. I’m not angry with you. You did good in coming here. I’m glad you did. So, tell me. Whose fault is this?” The praise runs down Corin spine like a pleasant shiver. Din is not angry with him!

“The ones you… met the other day. In the gym. And some others.” Corin reluctantly admits. No point in lying.

“Are they all on your team?” Din wants to know quietly.

“Yeah… they don’t like me a lot.”

“They did this before to you?” Dins huffs. 

Corin tries to make himself smaller.

“Maybe?” he answers, frightened to make Din even more angry. Din takes a long breath and his hand carefully tucks a stray lock behind Corin’s ear.

“Let’s get you patched up.” he suggests after a moment and begins to wipe away the blood on Corin’s face. 

When Din sees the cut on Corin’s throat he sucks in a sharp breath between his teeth but then merely patches up the section. 

Dins hands are soft and tender when they trail along his neck and Corin can’t help the goosebumps forming on his arm. It’s only when Din inspects his hands that Corin realises they are trembling badly. 

Careful of his injuries Din takes them and pulls Corin close. He ends up with his face buried in Din’s neck. Suddenly the full realisation of what just happened crushes over Corin and he can only bite back a sob while his whole body begins to tremble uncontrollably. 

Din holds him, stroking his back until Corin’s body stills. 

“Ok?” Din asks as he draws back. Corin nods. His hands are still as Din cleans and bandages them. Din’s fingertips over the forming bruises on his wrist are astonishingly soothing.

“Want to catch some sleep?” Din asks after finishing the last patches on Corin’s knees. He hadn’t been able to do much about the bruises on Corin’s face but at least there is no more blood to see. 

Huh?  
Corin is not sent home? He is allowed to stay? 

He doesn’t dare to ask if Din really means that he can stay here out of fear to be sent home immediately. Din walks over into the hallway and when he doesn’t move to the front door but where bedroom and living room are, Corin is relieved.

No misunderstanding then. Corin heads for the living room, ready to somehow fold himself to fit the small sofa, when a bewildered Din asks:

“Where are you going?”

“To sleep?” Corin answers warily. Had he, after all, understood Din wrong? Should he be going home?

“Come on, in here.” Dins voice is a whisper when he opens the door to his and Grogus bedroom. 

Corin is stunned. He ought to sleep in Din’s bed? No way! He will wake up the little one! 

“Come on.” Din says again. “You need to rest; you have training in the morning. I will catch up sleep when you are gone tomorrow." 

So Din intends to stay awake, probably sitting on the sofa while Corin occupies his bed. Din won’t be able to catch up sleep tomorrow, Corin knows it, not when the child is awake and demanding all attention it can get. 

He can’t just steal Din’s bed for himself and leave Din with the consequences.

“We could… both sleep there…?” Corin asks hesitantly.

“It’s fine Corin. Just sleep.” Din assures.

“No! I won’t just steal your bed, I won’t do that. It’s yours!”

“Shh!” Din shushes him. There is a pause and Din seems to think.

“Oh whatever. Come on.” His whispering voice sounds annoyed. He pulls Corin to one side of the bed and sits down on the other side. 

“Just sleep now!” he commands and Corin obediently lays down, pulling the covers Din thrusts over up to his chin. A rustling sound confirms Din has laid down too and Corin can hear him adjusting his blanket. He dozes off listening to Din’s even breaths.

##

Corin jolts up to an unfamiliar ringing tone and the first thing he sees is the back of Din, leaving the bedroom, closing the door behind him. 

Corin lies back down with a thump and glances at his phone. Early in the morning. Too early for him to be up already. 

Even the kid is still asleep, undisturbed by the noise. Suddenly the phone still in his hand buzzes. He quickly picks it up. It is an unfamiliar number.

“Yes?” he asks, as quiet as possible.

“Corin Valentis?” a female voice asks.

“Yes?” he repeats, confused. 

Who would call him this early in the morning?

“Until further notice, you are suspended from your basketball-team, due to physical violence against your teammates. You are not allowed to attend the training and are expected to stay away from your teammates until told otherwise.

If there are further incidents, there will be a charge against you. Your suspension lasts at least two months, after that we will contact you.” The voice sounds professional, nearly disinterested.

“What?” Corin croaks. What is happening? 

Oh, this is bad luck! So much bad luck!

“What a mess you’ve got yourself into, Corin.” The voice sounds different now, disappointed. 

The connection ends. Corin is unable to move, still holding the phone to his ear. He can’t comprehend what just happened.

The kid begins to whine and Corin automatically walks over to the crib, takes it and cradles it close to his chest. Grogu immediately stills and closes his eyes against Corin’s shoulder. Corin sits back on the bed with the kid in is arms, feeling numb.

This is how Din finds them a while later, having ended his call. He opens the door and begins:

“Corin, I-“ He stops when he sees Corin’s empty stare. “What is it?” he asks concerned.

“I… I just got suspended… due to violence against teammates… I…” Corin tries to repeat what the voice had said.

“You what?” Din asks alarmed. “Is this my fault?”

“Yours? NO!” Din’s question tears him out of his lethargy. Din has nothing to do with this! 

“No. It’s probably Phil and the others lying about yesterday. They were looking for a reason to get rid of me for a long time. It’s probably overdue. Eugene doesn’t really like me either.” Corins own voice sounds strange.

They both remain silent for a moment.

“Mh. And what are you gonna do now?”

That is the question that dreads Corin since his father died. When he had realised his place in the team wasn’t as secure as it had been with his father as his trainer, but there was also no one to force him into it anymore, this was what held him back to just quit. 

The void in his life always seemed paralyzingly scary. With him not playing basketball anymore he was useless. 

There was no reason to live for him anymore.

The child in his arms stirs and makes a light cooing sound. It makes something in Corin’s chest shift. He sees Din tilting his head, a brief smile darting across his face in reaction to the sound of the child. 

Maybe he is not completely useless? Corin doesn’t feel like it at the moment. He had expected the feeling of being thrown out of the team to be horrifying, painful, devastating. 

But that is not what he feels like now. He still feels content, holding Grogu in his arms. He even feels relief. He doesn’t have to meet Phil today, doesn’t need to look in despising eyes and doesn’t have to fear another attack. It makes him nearly giddy when he thinks of it. No one will harm him today!

“I don’t know.” He says honestly. But right now, he doesn’t need to answer this question.

“What about some breakfast?” Din proposes.

##

After finishing breakfast, Corin takes Grogu outside to give Din some room to himself. He doesn’t want to annoy him with his unusual presence, and he doesn’t mind taking the kid along. 

Corin’s face looks a little… rough but he figures he can hide it behind a high collar and a hat from Din, pulled down enough to cast a shadow over most of his face. 

Corin takes Grogu to the mall and the little one is fascinated by all the people scurrying around there. He especially likes a man costumed in a life-sized M&M suit and gives him an enthusiastic wave from where he is securely held in Corin’s arms.

They meet up again in the afternoon. Corin notices two suitcases standing in the hallway of Din's apartment when he enters with the kid in his arms. 

When Din sees Corin’s gaze darting over them he clears his throat.

“Corin… listen… I…” He seems to struggle for words. “Remember the call I got this morning? I wanted to talk to you about that. We need to leave for a while. There is some business I have to attend that I can’t do from here. I wanted to tell you this morning, but…”

Fear overruns Corin like a truck. 

Din and the child will leave? No! They can’t leave him behind, no! He won’t survive this, not when he has nothing else, only them! They can’t go without him! 

Corin’s breath gets ragged, he can’t get enough air into his lungs as he tries to supress the panic that rises in his gut.

“Please no! Please, don’t leave me behind!” He pleads. “Please, take me with you! I will do anything you want! I can watch him, I will be quiet, you won’t even notice me, I swear!” 

He doesn’t want to stay behind; Din cannot leave him as well as all the others did.

Corin won’t survive that! Why is he feeling dizzy suddenly?

“Corin, relax.” Din’s voice soothes him. 

He steps forward and cups his neck with his hand. 

“I wanted to ask you if you would want to come with us.” 

Corin nods frantically. Yes, more than anything else! He doesn’t want to be left behind and he will try his best not make Din regret his decision. Grogu makes a happy sound.

This evening Corin goes home early. All thoughts of his suspension are blown from his mind and he merely thinks about what he has to do now. Pack his bag and inform the staff that he will be absent for a while. 

Din couldn’t predict the amount of time it would take him to deal with everything and Corin hadn’t dug deeper. Din also had promised to take care of booking and transport so once Corin’s bag is packed there is not much else to do. 

He settles into his bed but can’t find the release of sleep for a long time as his thoughts start whirling as soon as his body stills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know much about how a professional basketball trainig takes place, so I'm sorry if it is not quite authentic. I hope it is not too off-putting!
> 
> And thank you for all your Kudos! It means a lot to me!


	3. Chapter 3

The following day Corin meets Din and Grogu in the afternoon and they share a taxi to the airport. Din carries the kid while Corin draws the two suitcases and his bag behind him.

The flight goes by uneventful and Corin has forgotten to ask where they’re going. It doesn’t matter. He would follow them anywhere anyway. 

Mid-flight, when a deepfelt yawn escapes from Corin’s lips, Din takes Grogu from his lap. 

“Sleep.” He commands and Corin leans back, dutifully closing his eyes. 

He opens them a while later as he hears Din mumbling softly to the giggling kid in his lap, his eyes full of love. Corin’s heart aches at the sight of them both. 

They land and the first thing Corin notices is the warm breeze surrounding them. It is too warm for his liking on the verge of uncomfortable. He can smell a hint of salt water in the air. Are they near the sea? He must ask Din later. They could make a stop at the beach when Din is not too busy with whatever he has to do. 

With their luggage gathered Din waves for another taxi. His face is vacant of any emotion, his posture more rigid than Corin knows it. With one hand he holds the child, the other one grips the handle of one suitcase so hard his knuckles are white. 

Wherever they are about to travel, it somehow seems to bother Din. It is strange for Corin to see the otherwise confident and assured man so distraught. They drive in silence after Din has told the driver an address.

The taxi comes to halt in front of a medium sized house with a red roof and a small porch. It is hunched between two bigger houses and manages to somehow look cramped and comfortable simultaneously. 

When their bags are unloaded and the taxi drives away, Corin waits for Din to make a move. 

But he doesn’t. 

He just stands and stares at the house, with the child in his arms. Corin glances over to him. 

Din’s teeth are clenched tight and he swallows visibly. An uneasy feeling creeps up Corin’s spine. 

Corin can’t bear the tension anymore.

“Din, what are we doing here?” he asks, his voice carefully quiet.

“This…” Din clears his throat as if it troubles him. “This was the house of my friends. They… passed away a while ago. The left me in charge of their belongings.” His voice is grim.

Shock momentarily paralyzes Corin. 

This is the business Din wants to attend? This is not business; this is pure heartbreak. The pity Corin feels for Din is overwhelming. He keeps most of it to himself. 

“Din… I’m sorry…”. Cori mumbles. Din isn’t the type to accept more showing of compassion, Corin senses. Even the kid seems to latch on the gloomy mood and keeps quiet, merely looking at them both.

After a while Din moves and opens the door of the house. Corin moves after him and finds himself in a light hallway with a wooden floor. It doesn’t feel right to be in here, like he is invading someone’s private territory, like an undesired intruder. 

This is the house of Din’s now deceased friends. He doesn’t feel like he has the right to be here. 

So Corin stays in the hallway like he is bolted to the wooden rails. 

Din trails off with the luggage. 

Corin hears him snort dryly as if someone had told him a bad joke. When he comes back and sees Corin still standing where he left him, he sighs.

“Corin, look. It’s fine. You can move. Just don’t break anything, ok?”

“Ok.” Corin breathes.

Din informs him that what he has to deal with won’t start until tomorrow and suggests going out to get some food. 

Corin is relieved when he is outside of the house again and his step gets lighter and lighter the further they walk into the small, nearby town. 

They sit down outside a small restaurant and the temperature is, now evening, more than bearable but not too cold for the child to freeze. 

They eat mostly in silence, the kid and Corin similarly engrossed in their plates. Din helps Grogu, who has picked up on how to use a spoon and a fork quite quickly over the last week. 

When Din is not fast enough with helping, he just uses his hands, they work fine as well. 

Din looks like he doesn’t know if to laugh or to sigh at the amount of food around and on the kid before he starts cleaning him up with a rag he brought in wise foresight. 

Grogu dozes off in the process and Din quickly picks him up to avoid his head knocking on the table. 

It is late when they walk back and Corin is tired from the traveling. Entering the house he goes hunting for his bag for some sleep clothes. 

He looks in the direction where Din earlier had taken their luggage in and ends up in front of a room with a sign with the inscription ‘guests’. 

The room is white and half of it is taken up by a double bed on one wall. On the opposite side is a small desk, a drawer and a TV mounted to the wall. 

This room, with his void of colour and personal stuff seems a good place to sleep for Corin. He feels less like an intruder here. This room is intended for people like him. More or less.

Din walks into the room as well and stops next to the suitcases by the door. Corin turns around to him and wonders.

“Where will you sleep?” 

There is plenty of room, and while Corin didn’t see much of the house yet he had caught a glimpse of a huge, comfortable looking, red sofa. He suspects an even nicer bed on the first floor.

“With the kid.” Din states, eases the sleeping kid down on the bed and marches off. Corin hears him climb up the stairs, probably to settle in adequately.

“Corin!” he hears Din's shout distantly. “Come up and help me with that!” 

Corin hurriedly obeys. When he climbs up the stairs he notices a dust film that seems to linger over everything he can lay his eyes on. Who knows how long this house is already uninhabited? 

He finds Din in the first room to the left of a small hallway. The room is painted a bright yellow with suns and moons and stars decorating the walls. 

If happy were a room, Corin thinks, it would look like this, bright and innocent. There is a comfy blue armchair in one corner and a small cupboard as well as a chest of drawers. There are no toys. 

More prominently, there is a crib by a huge window, bathing the crib in the shine of the streetlights. 

Corins eyes widen. 

They had a kid? There was a kid involved in the death of Din’s friends? 

Shock slams in Corin’s gut once more. It feels so wrong. So wrong that their child had to die as well. How can bad luck be this cruel?! 

Din waits by the cot, unimpressed by Corin’s expression and beckons Corin to carry it with him. Corin does but stumbles a bit when Din leads him not further down the hallway as he suspected but downstairs. They stop in the guestroom and Din sets the cot down.

“You will sleep here?” Corin asks, taken aback. “But there is just one bed!” 

Din just grunts in return and relocates the sleeping child from the bed into the crib. Corin gingerly sits down on one side of the bed, unsure how to proceed. 

When Din just gets into the bed without objections he does the same. It is different from last time and Corin wonders why he does this. 

Sure Dins apartment was small and cramped, there hadn’t been another option for them if they both wanted to get sleep. But now? 

So many rooms, so much space to get away from Corin. But Din doesn’t. Maybe, Corin muses, Din feels as lost, as intruding, as he does in this house. 

It must be painful for Din to be surrounded by the belongings and memories of his friends. This room with its lack of anything personal is probably the room that is the least agonizing for Din to be in. 

Corin contemplates leaving the room to Din to find another place to sleep but he still feels like he shouldn’t be prying into private stuff. 

So he stays.

Corin tosses around for a while, unable to find sleep with all the new information he got today. When he finally finds an acceptable position, he focuses on Din’s breathing and with its steadiness it lulls him into sleep.

Corin wakes up slowly, with a strangely content feeling and he tries to go back to sleep, not wanting to let go of the lingering peace. It doesn’t work and he slowly realises his limbs are curled around something and his face is smashed against something warm. 

There is also a warm presence around his shoulders. He jolts to action as if burned. He entangles himself with a red face and sits on the edge of the bed. 

Mortified, he glances back, hoping to see Din still asleep. 

Bad luck. 

Two very much awake eyes greet him. “Morning.” Din sounds amused. 

“Morning,” Corin mumbles. Oh, why did he have to mess up so badly?

They get up after that, getting the kid and themselves ready. Din declares he will be gone for most of the day and Corin is free to go with the kid wherever he wants.

“I will call you once I’m finished for today.” He assures and then heads outside to grab a taxi. 

Corin finds he wants to get out of the house as well and he and the kid walk for hours through the small town. 

Eventually, Corin spots what he had been looking for unconsciously. A beach! He sets Grogu down in the sand and lets him explore for a bit. The little one is interested in everything he finds, shells, stones, little crabs and promptly tries to swallow one. 

Good luck for the crab that Corin’s reflexes are sharp and he frees it out of Grogus small hands. 

“No eating stuff, little bean. You will get a tummy-ache.” 

After that incident he watches the child even closer and makes a mental note to bring a blanket next time. 

The day is over soon and Din still hasn’t called. Corin sets his path back to the house, buying some food on his way to prepare a meal for them.

Once back in the house Corin wants to begin cooking but he can’t bring himself to open the cabinets in the kitchen. It still feels too intrusive. 

But when he takes an exploring walk along the house he finds a little fire pit in the tiny garden behind the house. He can work with that! 

He builds up a small pile of wood and lights it. He even finds a grillage leaned to a wooden bench in front of the fire. He sets to cleaning it and waits for the heat of the fire to recede so he can start roasting for him and the kid. It’s when he hears Din shouting.

“Corin?” his voice sounds nervous.

“We’re here!” Corin shouts back and Din emerges from the garden door. He takes the child into his arms from where he sat in Corins lap and just holds him close, mumbling a few sentences into his ear. Corin starts roasting, giving him some privacy. 

Eventually, Din sits down, Grogu on his lap.

“That is a good idea.” He states and Corin doesn’t know how to react to the praise. Heat creeps up his cheeks. 

“Do we have plates?” Din asks and shaking his head Corin scrambles to his feet to gather them and some cutlery. 

While looking for it he eventually has to open some cabinets. He finds the cutlery first and proceeds hunting for plates. He opens another compartment, but what he finds is not what he is looking for. 

Glued to the back of the door, there is a picture of a man and a woman with a small baby between them, the beach in the background. They are unfamiliar to him, but the baby somehow isn’t. 

The longer Corin stares the more familiarity he finds in the baby’s face but he can’t quite place it. Corin is confused. How could he have seen this child before? He never has been in this area before. He didn’t know Din’s friends.

This has to be his brain mocking him for peering into things he is not allowed to. 

He closes the compartment and finally finds what he is looking for in the next cabinet. 

He heads outside again and is just about to give Din the plates when he stares into the face he just looked at. 

The child in Dins lap is older now, sure, but there is no doubt it is the same child. 

What? This isn’t Din’s kid? 

This is the kid of his deceased friends that he cares for, cares for with such a tenderness as if it was his own? 

Emotions - grief, awe, pity, love, infinite admiration - flood Corin. Why hadn’t Din told him that? Wasn’t Corin allowed to know? Should he have deduced by himself? He is such an idiot!

Corin sits down next to Din and stares into the flames. He has to process a lot. Din doesn’t say anything and starts feeding Grogu and eating as well. After a while he glances over to Corin, offering him a plate with grilled goods. 

“Everything ok?” he asks.

Corin swallows once. 

“This… the house… it’s not the only thing they left behind. Your friends, I mean.” Corin looks at a tired Grogu.

Din stills in his movements and carefully directs his glance over to the fire.

“No.”

Din tells him in a flat, unemotional voice.

“They were my best friends, so they made me godfather. They both didn’t have any family and I tried to be around as much as I could living in a different city. There was a car accident about seven months ago. Both died. He survived. Unharmed. They called me, I picked him up and took him with me. It’s just now that they found a testament. They bequeathed everything to him, so I have to deal with it. That’s what we’re here for.”

“What were their names?” Corin asks quietly. He doesn’t want to be in a house where he not even knows the owner’s names anymore.

“Josy. Ben.” Din clips.

“You miss them.” Corin states.

“Yes.” Din’s voice breaks. 

His whole posture slumps and his shoulder leans against Corin’s. They sit in silence for a while. Corin can’t bear the pain radiating off Din anymore and he tries to say something to cheer Din up.

“Grogu loves you.” It’s a conclusion he can draw from every day he spends with them.

Din breathes in sharply.

“He loves you too.” It is said with the same certainty Corin just used.

“He… I would do anything for him.” Corin explains.

“That’s good. He deserves it more than anything.”

“Yeah, he does.”

Another pause.

After a while Din speaks.

“Why did you never defend yourself when they harassed you? I know you could. You’re not weak.”

“It’s… complicated.”

“Try me.” Din growls.

So Corin explains that the team once belonged to his father, how he had trained him since he could walk and what his father’s death left behind. Corin trembles at the memories but Din makes it bearable by wrapping an arm around Corin’s back and pulling him close.

“I know I could beat them. But they would throw me out and I… I just don’t know what else to do. I’m not good at anything and… I don’t know… my father is probably disappointed by me anyway but I don’t know if I could betray him like that.”

“The way you describe your father he sounds rather… strict.”

“Yes. He did it to make sure I will learn not to be weak, to survive. To be a real man. But he would be disappointed now. He always was.”

“Corin. You are not a disappointment. I like you just the way you are.” Din says sternly.

This has to be a lie. Why would Din say anything like that? But it sounds so good and Corin can’t withstand to wallow in the words a little longer. He melts with them and ends up with his head tucked under Din’s chin, a securing arm still around his body. Din doesn’t object and even pulls him a little closer. They stare in the flames together for a while, the child sleeping in Din’s lap.

##

The next day Din is only occupied for half a day and they spend the afternoon on the beach all three together. Din and the child are sitting on the blanket Corin brought along while Corin works out next to them. 

Din ignores him pointedly and Corin suspects he annoys Din with his training-units. 

But he has come this far and hadn’t been sent away so Corin pushes through his next set of sit ups, grunting quietly. 

When he is done, he pulls off his shirt and runs into the cooling waves. A laugh escapes from his lips. The water feels so refreshing on his sweaty skin. He swims for a while and then turns around to slowly wade out of the water, letting the wind cast over his exposed wet skin. 

He notices the child as it begins to crawl away from the blanket in the direction of him. Din doesn’t do anything about it, Corin isn’t even sure he notices the kid wandering off. 

Din just stares at something in the horizon Corin can’t quite fathom, he is too far away to see Din’s eyes. When Grogu is nearly by the water Corin grabs him und jogs back to where Din sits with his eyes now drawn on Corin. 

He doesn’t move, just stares at Corin until he asks. 

“Din? You alright?”

Din looks oddly distracted. Is he in pain? Maybe his wrist troubles him again?

Din flinches, shakes his head and is there a blush creeping up his neck? It’s probably just the sun irritating the skin a bit.

“Yeah.” Din mutters. 

Grogu makes a triumphal noise and holds something up for Corin to look at.

“What do you have there, little bean?” Corin takes a look. 

It is a stone, slightly covered in sand and probably some spit, but it is the most beautiful stone Corin has ever seen. 

“Wow! This is amazing! Din, look!” Corin kneels and sets the child between them to let Din see what he sees. The stone looks like it is layered with different materials and colors, the most mesmerizing being the blue-tealish colour among the layers. There is a shiny grey one that looks somehow metallic and a sparkling green. There are several brown tones in the mix as well and it looks like it was smoothened by the waves for a thousand years. 

“Beautiful.” Din states. 

Beautiful indeed Corin thinks.

They gather their things after that and while Corin and the kid walk home directly, Din excuses himself for a while and heads into town.

The sleeping kid placed in its crib Corin washes away the salt before drying off and goes hunting for his night shirt. 

He can’t find it and decides to get a new one from his bag later. Right now his stomach complains heavily, the kid had been the only one to get supper today. He prepares something fast and hears the keys in the lock as Din lets himself in. 

“Been successful?” Corin addresses him in lieu of a greeting. Din looks in Corin’s direction as he walks into the kitchen when he slams into the doorframe with one shoulder. 

Din’s face is torn between puzzled and panicked when he looks at his attacker, but when it is just an unmoving part of furniture slight embarrassment sneaks up in his features.  
What is the matter with Din today? He seems so absent-minded today. Is he sick?

Din gathers himself and looks once again at Corin, his eyes meeting his in something just short of a glare. 

“What?”

“I asked if you have been successful.” Corin repeats, still wondering about Din’s strange behaviour. He decides to not ask the other man about it, Din clearly has to deal with enough stuff and doesn’t need a fussing Corin added to that list.

“Hungry?” He asks instead. “I can make you something.”

“Thanks, no. Not hungry.” Din clips and rapidly backs off in the direction of the guest room.

Corin joins him a short while later, putting on a new sleeping shirt. Seriously, where had the other one gone? Corin suspects Grogu could be the culprit and makes a mental note to have a little discussion with him about stealing other people’s clothes. 

Din seems more relaxed now and Corin falls asleep to Din’s even breaths once more.

##

There is a hand to Corin’s throat and he can’t quite breathe right. 

His hands are trapped behind his back, there is no way he can escape. He sees his father raising his hand to reprimand Corin for failing again and just as Corin is about to await the blow he startles awake, jolting upwards and trying to free his throat from the ghosts of the suffocating hand. 

Suddenly there is another pair of hands and Corin starts to scramble backwards to escape them. 

Little by little he hears a voice, Din’s voice through the pulse racing in his ears. 

Din’s voice is deep, soothing and Corin stops to struggle and stills.

“It’s alright, you are safe. You are safe here Corin, everything is ok.” Din mumbles. 

Corin believes him and falls back into the pillows, breathing heavily. 

Din’s warm hands follow him and continue to rub his shoulders, lightly caressing his cheek and neck. 

The dream still clings to Corin and he longs for the safety Din provides. 

In an instinctual move he turns to his side, throwing his arm around Din’s stomach to anchor himself in the reality. He hides his face in Din’s chest and can smell the scent of the other man. It grounds him more than anything else and when Din puts both his arms around Corin and holds him tightly, soothingly rubbing his back, Corin’s breathing slowly evens out. 

Bit by bit Corin’s body relaxes again and the last thing he can remember is the feeling of Din’s arms holding him.

##

The following days continue much like the last ones and Corin spends a lot of the time with the kid outside on the beach or in the small garden. He still doesn’t feel like he should make himself at home in the house that once belonged to Josy and Ben, even if it’s technically Din’s now.

“I’m going to sell it.” Din declares one evening out of the blue.

“Huh?” Corin answers, taken by surprise.

“I’m going to sell the house. Tomorrow. Then everything will have been dealt with. It’s the last thing to do.”

“Uh, ok. You sure you don’t want to keep it? For him?” He nods at Grogu who is sitting on the floor playing with different sized, colourful plastic cups, uttering small cooing noises.

“He is young. He won’t remember anything anyway. And I can’t look after the house from where we live. They money will be a good starting capital for him when he is all grown up.” Din sounds thoughtfully.

Corin thinks about what Din said and has the feeling it’s the right thing to do. A fresh start for them both. He hopes it will help Din to move on as well to not constantly be reminded of the deep pain he feels at the loss of his friends. To give his mind some peace.

“Will we go back then? Tomorrow?” Corin wants to know.

Dins answer comes hesitantly. 

“We could… or… we could take a room somewhere else for a while? If you want?” He sounds… hopeful?

Corin thinks about that and finds he would really like to stay here for a while. He doesn’t want to go back to his cold, unwelcoming, much too big house and the perspective to switch their current residence for something else makes the proposition even more attractive.

“Yeah… I would like that.”

“Good.” Din breathes.

##

They get up early the following day, gathering all their things. 

It doesn’t take long as they both limited spreading their belongings very much to the guest room. 

They wait outside for the estate agent who will take over the keys to handle the selling. 

Din looks nervous where he stands with Grogu in his arms as if to calm himself. Corin doesn’t try to start a conversation to avoid the curt answers Din tends to give in this state. 

He stands next to their luggage, now also including a crate of personal things Din wanted to keep, the picture Corin had found a few days ago among them. 

When Corin had wondered if these few things were everything he intended to keep, Din had answered that the rest was already back in his small apartment, gathered when he first picked Grogu up. These were just the remnants.

An expensive car drives up and a lanky figure in a smart suit emerges. Corin quickly takes over the child when offered from Din. 

The figure steps up to Din, nodding a brief greeting in Corin’s direction and introduces himself. They talk shortly and Din unceremoniously hands over the keys. The man drives away and Din looks like a balloon in the process of deflating. It is over now. 

Corin slowly approaches him.

“Din?” he asks uncertainly and comes to halt in front of him.

Din just looks at him and there is a flash of raw pain in his eyes. It is soon replaced by something… relieved? Hopeful? 

Din says nothing but takes a gentle hold of Corin’s neck. He pulls him close, closer than they have ever been. He slowly rests his forehead against Corin’s, closing hies eyes and exhaling a shaky breath that caresses Corin’s skin. Corin is overwhelmed by the gesture, the contact makes his whole body tingle and his cheeks heat up. They stand for a while until Din eases himself back.

“Let’s go.” He says firmly and waves for a taxi. They drive to the hotel in silence.

##

They spend the day exploring their new surroundings and head back to the hotel in the evening, all three equally tired. 

The whole day Din seemed to be vibrating with barely contained emotions, as if he was on the verge of exploding. 

Din doesn’t say anything, but his eyes betray him. 

Corin can see the flashes of grief and love and everything in between there. 

Somehow, Corin envies Grogu, the affection he sees in Dins eyes when he handles the child. 

He want’s to drown in them, bath in the affection as well. But he knows this is nothing he deserves and he tries to convince himself that what he has with them both now is more than enough. He has to enjoy every second of it, to remember it when it’s over.

Din places Grogu in the crib they requested from the hotel just as the kid starts to babble. 

Suddenly the babble emerges into something else, like something on the verge of syllables and Corin can’t believe his ears when he hears 

“Da… Da… Da… Dad… Da…”

Corin jolts around and Din stiffens. 

A bright smile spreads on Corin’s lips and he approaches the helpless looking Din.

“That’s right, little one.” Corin praises. 

But Grogu is already fast asleep, his small lips forming a slight ‘o’. 

Din turns to Corin and now there are actual tears shining in his eyes, this is probably one thing too much happening today. 

His hands reach out as if to anchor himself and find their destination in Corin’s neck. Din pulls him close like this morning, their foreheads meeting in a gentle gesture. 

Corin loves this man, so much, he can barely breathe right now. 

He hates the pain Din has to feel and wants to just peel it away from Din, free him of the weight of it. 

Din is such a good man; he deserves much more than this. Than him.

But Din doesn’t seem to mind and brings their faces closer together. 

Corin can feel Din’s breath skirting across his lips. There is merely an inch separating their lips, their noses touching in an imitation of their foreheads. 

Din hesitates.

“Can I…?” he asks, breathlessly. 

It sounds like he is begging.

“Yeah.” Corin is eager to answer and doesn’t know whose lips move first, carefully meeting each other. 

Din is sweet, tentative as he moves his lips against Corin’s, but Corin feels his heartbeat racing under his hands from where he placed them on Din’s chest. 

Corin whole thinking is reduced to their lips meeting and he shudders or Din or they both.

Din parts their lips to look at Corin, their foreheads again touching. 

Corin can’t help to smile breathlessly and Din joins it. 

He looks, mesmerizing, beautiful, soft, Din. 

Corin wants to save this image forever. Din pulls him close into a hug and buries his head in Corin’s neck.

“Stay with us.” He mumbles after a while.

“Hm?” Corin is too overwhelmed by the contact, he is not quite sure he understood correctly.

“Stay with us.” Din repeats, more audible. “We will figure everything out, just stay with us. Please.”

“Yes.” Corin breathes. Always.

Epilogue  
Corin sits in a window seat of the plane that brings them back home. 

The kid and Din are napping next to him and a warm feeling spreads in his chest at their sight. 

He thoughtfully turns the slim ring on his finger that Din gave to him a few days ago. It is carved out of the stone the kid had found on the beach the other day. 

After some prodding Din had reluctantly admitted it reminded him of the blue in Corin’s eyes.

They will figure everything out. His suspension, the team harassing him, he will manage with Din and the little bean by his side. 

Din will start to work again soon and maybe, just maybe Corin can apply for another team to get away from his past. 

But that’s things to deal with in the future. 

For now he just relishes the time with Grogu and Din, no dread lingering in the back of his mind. 

For the first time, he looks forward to what the future will bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
